As we know, the College Board is a non-profit organization that creates standardized tests and many other tools that promote college readiness. What the College Board does is provide AP exams, SATs, ACTs, etc. The AP exams help students get their early college credit. Although these are great opportunities, they are very expensive. These AP exams are at a high cost. High school students take AP courses throughout high school, which means taking AP Exams at the end of the school year. Many students take a variety of AP courses during high school, and if they decide to take the exams at the end of each course, students will have to pay for each AP exam they take. The exam prices are different depending on the course. One exam itself could range from $90-$150 or even more. There are fee waivers but only for those who have reduced lunch or other financial aid. 

   The prices to take these exams are outrageous. High school students take these AP courses for a better opportunity in college. They look good on transcripts, and if you score well enough on the AP exam, you can get that college credit. The College Board causes controversy because it is supposed to help students save money, but it feels like they’re making these exams overpriced for their own profit. “The company has been accused of violating their non-profit status because of its high executive compensation,” according to Wikipedia.

   Some students think that the College Board is a scam. Many students last year took AP classes, but everyone was learning online, which isn’t the same as learning in a classroom. It’s hard to learn through a screen for seven hours and be expected to do homework and study. Teachers did the best they could to make sure we understood their lessons, but it was also hard on them. The AP exams were online during the 2020-2021 school year. They were about four hours long, depending on the subject: not the easiest thing to get through while being watched by a random person through your own camera. Can you imagine having to take the AP exam at home for hours during a year where you learned online? Obviously, not many students learned as much as we expected. Some of us didn’t learn enough to perform well on AP exams. Some students experienced problems when trying to submit their exams, which caused major problems. Some even paid lots of money only for the exam to crash and not submit. 

   We shouldn’t have to pay such high prices to take these exams. Some seniors went as far as to say that the College Board is a scam.